1. Field
This disclosure relates generally to maintenance project work management systems and processes for large-scale plants and assets.
2. Description of Related Art
Asset-intensive industries are those types of businesses that rely on large infrastructure assets, typically plants of some sort or large network, to generate a large portion of their revenues. Examples of asset-intensive industries include oil & gas, power generation, mining, chemicals and to some extent telecommunications. The term “asset” or in these industries and for purposes of this document refers to the plant, network or facility itself, for example, a nuclear power plant, a hydro-electric dam, an oil refinery or an offshore platform.
These assets are large, complex, and inherently dangerous. Such assets require continuous maintenance to keep them in working order. Maintenance activities can include procedures that are intended to maintain or increase the intended performance, quality, safety, and/or service of the asset.
The asset is occasionally taken offline or out of service so that major maintenance work and/or capital modifications work may be performed. This offline maintenance period is frequently referred to as a shutdown, turnaround or outage, or an “STO”. Costs for an STO can be range from $5 million to $250+ million over a period of several weeks or months depending on how much work will be performed during the STO. Large capital modifications to the plant can increase these costs substantially.